Country Iran Status Operational Impounds Karkheh River Height 127 m Phone +98 916 094 6146 Construction began 1992 | Location Khūzestān Opening date 2001 Address Khuzestan Province, Iran Opened 2001 Construction cost 700 million USD Impound Karkheh River | |
Owner(s) Iran Water & Power Resources Development Co. Similar Dez Dam, Karun‑3 Dam, Upper Gotvand Dam, Salasel Castle, Pol‑e Sefid Ahvaz | ||
The Karkheh Dam (Persian: سد کرخه) is a large multi-purpose earthen embankment dam built in Iran on the Karkheh River in 2001 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
The dam is in the northwestern province of Khūzestān, the closest city being Andimeshk to the east. It is 127 metres (417 ft) high and has a reservoir capacity of 5.9 billion cubic meters. The Karkheh Dam is designed to irrigate 320,000 hectares (790,000 acres) of land, produce 520 MW of hydro-electricity and prevent downstream floods.
In August 2015, Hamid Chitchian, energy minister of Iran, said that because of the water crisis in Iran and low levels of water, this dam has not produced even 1 kWh of energy in its lifetime. In 2014 the maximum water in the reservoir of the dam reached 1,900,000,000 m3 (6.7×1010 cu ft) and it is estimated that this number will be even less in 2015.
Construction
In 1956, studies began on the Karkheh Dam by the American company Development and Resources Corporation, which was headed by David E. Lilienthal, the former Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In 1990, the final studies and design were completed by Mahab Ghodss Consulting Engineers, directed by master engineer Mohammad Soleymani. The engineering division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) started construction on the Karkheh Dam in 1992 and the dam was complete in 2001. During construction, 120 contractual and over eight consultative companies worked on the dam; 5,000 workers constructed the dam and 40 were killed in the process.